1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to motorized toy vehicles, and in particular to a toy "crash" car which upon frontal impact with a wall or other obstruction simulates a crash and its consequences, the normal appearance of the car being restored simply by closing the side door and the trunk lid, these components being outflung in the crash.
2. Status of the Art
Motorized toy vehicles are popular with children, for in play the child can maneuver the car and thereby imitate an adult activity. Play acting sometimes takes a destructive form in that a typical child not only enjoys operating a toy in its intended manner but he also takes a certain delight in wrecking the toy. The dismantling of a toy does not usually reflect misbehavior on the part of the child, but an expression of natural curiosity. Thus a child who takes a mechanical watch apart is not trying to destroy the watch, but is seeking to learn how it works.
Play constitutes the earliest form of education, for by manipulating toys, by playing house, and by pretending to carry out various adult activities, the child acquires basic skills preparatory to more mature activity. And since in the adult world, automobiles sometimes become involved in accidents and may be wrecked, a child playing with a toy car may attempt to simulate a real car crash and deliberately crash his toy vehicle into a wall or other obstruction just to see what happens.
With a conventional toy car, the player cannot have his cake and eat it, for once this car is crashed and badly damaged, it is no longer operable. In order therefore to provide a player with a toy car that can be crashed without being permanently disabled, so-called "crash" cars have been developed and marketed. In such cars, some of the components such as doors, headlights and bumpers are loosely mounted so that when the vehicle is run into a wall, these components fall off and thereby simulate a crash.
There are a number of practical drawbacks to a "crash" car of this known type. First, because the components necessary to simulate a crash are loosely mounted on the vehicle, they tend to fall off even when the child plays with the car in an ordinary way.
Second, when the vehicle is crashed, the loosely mounted components may scatter in various directions and the child may not be able to retrieve all of the components. Thus when the car is reassembled, one or more of the components may be missing, and with continued use even more may be missing, so that it is no longer possible to restore the vehicle to its normal condition. Moreover, the need to reassemble the car after each crash becomes a tedious task and the child may lose interest in the toy.